The new year presents the perfect opportunity for you to make substantial progress toward your career goals. If you need some ideas to help in your goal-setting planning, click here. One goal that is held by most new financial planners is to be able to work with clients. After all, helping people is a major motivator for students and career changers joining the profession. Similar to other established professions, newly minted financial planners typically don't start off working solo with clients immediately. However, if that is your dream, some initiative could allow you to start helping clients sooner rather than later.

Here is how you can show your readiness to take the next step:

Be clear in your goals: We published a blog for clients on setting goals last month, but much of what we shared can be applied to your situation as well. Make your goals for this year as specific as you can to be able to better measure your progress at reaching those goals and be able to easily identify when your goals have been reached. We challenge you to think big and set big goals!

Communication is key: Schedule time with your supervisor to discuss the goals you have developed for yourself to ensure they mesh with what the firm has in mind for you as well so you can work together to achieve them. Your supervisor will not only be able to help point you in the right direction and show you what to work on to get there, but they can also hold you accountable. Share your desire to work directly with clients and make sure to ask what you need to do for that to happen if the firm’s goals for you are different.

Go above and beyond with your current tasks: Before taking on more responsibility you need to prove you are ready for the next step. One of the best ways is to excel at what you are currently doing. Complete tasks early, and look at the finished product and ask yourself “is this client ready?” 

Think a step ahead: Don’t just sit back and twiddle your thumbs when you finish what has been assigned to you. Ask for more! Either ask for what you can do to help someone else, or anticipate what would be the most helpful for your team and take action. That initiative will demonstrate to your supervisor the devotion you have to reaching your goals and contributing to the firm. Sometimes to get ahead in your career you must be willing to do things others aren’t willing to do. For example, some of your co-workers will never ask for more work that they “aren't getting paid for.”

Helping clients starts with sitting in on client meetings and taking notes to assist the lead advisor, but you can become an advisor yourself. Take notice of how your superiors interact with clients and role-play with yourself how you would have answered the questions. This may sound silly, but will help to get you ready!

If you want to work with clients and it’s not possible at your current firm, give us a call 1-888-666-1021 and we would be happy to discuss options with you. In the meantime, you can Send us your resume and browse our job opportunities to see if there is a position that can help you take the next step.